Being that my medical tests in Ohio were fine, the protein in my urine must’ve just looked elevated because of all my working out. That had to be what it was, right?

Dr. R wasn’t concerned. I wasn’t concerned. We were sure it was just a fluke, as he even said exercise can make the tests results look like something they’re not really.

All during September, I was on a crazy show with tons of constant schedule changes. (For anyone who’s wondering, I was a Segment Producer on Living with the Jacksons – yes those Jacksons. Just ask me about Jermaine. ;))

It was my first credit as any kind of producer. (While I was technically credited as a Segment Producer, there were no other Segments Producers. There was no one even credited as “Producer.” The person above me was the EP. So, all the segments, all the logistics, all the guest cast people – I’m your girl!)

I was working overtime – super overtime. Basically, I was always working. (Not to oversell it, but I think it may have been the toughest job I’ve had.) I never really knew when I could get to the lab. (I know. I hate excuses too.) Sure, it was open 7 days a week. So, at some point, I should’ve been able to make it work…

But, you know [wah wah], we were not a Monday – Friday job. We were a “possibly anyplace, anytime” job. A lot of times we’d get days off (or new days on) at the last minute. Since the schedule was ever-changing, even if I could’ve made it to the lab, I certainly never had the 5-day advance notice to know not to work out.

(And here’s a shot from that 50k obstacle course)

Also, I think if I hadn’t worked out for 5 days straight on a show that stressful, I may have just straight up died from it. (Probably not… but you never know.)

So, as much as I wanted to keep the ball rolling, I just couldn’t make the next test happen until October.

I’d gotten a free entry to this crazy 31-mile(!) obstacle course run on October 4th. So, I decided I would do that and then finally take the 5 days of no working out. I wanted to push myself to the max so that hopefully 5 days would go by pretty quickly.

And it did.

The only thing that was a slight bummer was I wanted to stay in Ohio for just a couple of days more. But, I wanted to make sure I did my urine test right on day 6 (after 5 days of rest). (I didn’t want to take any more workout time off than I had to.) UCLA doesn’t use any remote labs. So, I had to be home basically by the 9th to grab my container and start my test on the 10th.

(I couldn’t have stayed in Ohio that much longer anyway, as I started my new job on the 13th. So, I wasn’t missing out on too terribly much.)

At UCLA, for the 24-hour-urine collection, they say you can use your own clean container if you want (e.g. an empty gallon of water). I did that the first time, but I preferred to just use the one from them this time to be extra careful. So, on the 9th, I trekked over there and got a container (and some delicious Native Foods Cafe – which became one of the best things about trips to UCLA).